State lawmakers are debating a bill that would punish parents for leaving a child younger than 7 alone in a car. They’ve also proposed legislation to ban kids under 10 from being home alone and older kids from being home alone at night. (emphasis me V)

17-year-old daughter …could not operate a power saw, work on ladders or even pump gas. The state also regulates how many hours and times of day minors can work….

…girls as young as 16 …working as strippers, as long as they are home by 11:30 p.m.…(sputter V)…

..Rhode Island law would allow teens to turn to prostitution…

…But a 16-year-old cannot drive without an adult in the car, and those under 18 cannot buy pornography or alcohol. It is also illegal to photograph or film minors in sexually suggestive ways. …

I have been thinking about a post on hubris discussing how pre-Philip-II-of-Macedon Greek and Persian civilizations had some serious ridiculosities and that there were some at-least-as-funny ends of civilization as ours as related by Greek historians like Herodotus and Zenophon (as soon as I finish re-reading Herodotus), but really, I’m not sure if I can make that assertion anymore.